ABSTRACT
One of the prominent results of the troubled China-Japan relations is competition for political and economic influence in the surrounding Asia-Pacific region. Heterogeneity of political systems, sovereignty claims, border disputes, secessionist actions, security tensions and mutual suspicions among members have caused Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings to exclude security and political issues from their agenda. In 2006, for the first time, Japan's Self-Defense Force began planning for three invasion scenarios from China involving a Taiwan Straits crisis, the contested Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, and the disputed gas fields in the East China Sea. Against Japan's attempts to widen the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) process in terms of membership, China was keen to pursue its deepening, particularly in an area in which it is increasingly having an advantage, international finance. With Japan and China competing for supremacy, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) moved to manage this community building effort by insisting that only ASEAN countries get to host the East Asia Summit.
